The project of social justice in education, or maybe any education, involves ideological shifts. These shifts include profound changes to the self. One way that ideological beliefs change is through a process of identification, which occurs on conscious and unconscious levels. As we build our identities through identification, the incorporation of the same and other into ourselves, we also modify ideological makeup. Identification and its embeddedness with ideological formation at conscious and unconscious levels also suggests that teaching critical reading as divorced from uncritical reading may not only be undesirable, but probably impossible. The author teaches a general education environmental justice literature course that is on the recommended list for environmental studies students. The course is part of the larger dialogue within environmental studies to redefine environmental studies and environmentalism as inextricably tied to issues of race, class, and gender. It is also involved in the university's project to diversify its curriculum. This article explores what about this particular course sparks such anxiety and rage at the time, but lasting beneficial effects in the long run.